1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to aggregating records, and in particular, to aggregating and organizing records that include protected/confidential information in a manner that protects the identity of the individual associated with the record.
2. Background
Confidential records are increasingly becoming digitized and stored in computer databases. Data privacy and security issues are thus paramount, as well as compliance with applicable laws and regulations. For example, in the United States, the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act) requires that patient medical records be kept confidential, and not released to third parties without authorization. Yet, it is advantageous for different entities to have access to certain medical records for purposes of research, clinical studies, and diagnosis. However, many regulations, including HIPAA, do not permit unrelated or independent entities to aggregate medical records as such aggregation could permit the entity to identify persons associated with the medical records, resulting in a privacy breach.
Further, even when confidential records are properly obtained, such records may be incomplete, erroneous, and/or ambiguous. For example, a health insurance company may receive claims from two different medical offices where the patient's name is spelled differently. Thus, aggregating and associating confidential records corresponding to a particular patient is difficult, irrespective of the privacy and compliance issues.
Accordingly, a need exists to allow analysis of information in confidential records in a protected (i.e., anonymous) fashion by aggregating and identifying the records as belonging to a common individual without revealing the identity of the individual. In the context of medical records, this is useful in research, clinical studies, or when identifying medical conditions, particularly when such patient medical records are obtained from unrelated databases or source systems.